Responding to Labour's commitment to exempt first time buyers from Stamp Duty on homes purchased for less than £300,000, Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive, said:

"Any tax cut - even a fiddly one like this - would be welcome to the people it would benefit, but this is yet another lazy announcement that will apparently be funded from the magical money tree of tax avoidance. In the long term we should be looking to abolish Stamp Duty, but in the meantime a better move for taxpayers would be to double the thresholds or halve the rates for all buyers. For all of the election gimmicks on housing, the stark truth is that politicians must relax planning restrictions so that more houses can be built."

For more on Stamp Duty and the effect of changes made in last year's Autumn Statement, click here.

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